Sia reveals she is on autism spectrum two years after 'Music' casting controversy
Sia has revealed that she has autism. “I’m on the spectrum, and I’m in recovery and whatever—there’s a lot of things,” the 'Chandelier' singer shared on an episode of 'Rob Has a Podcast,' which also featured former 'Survivor' Season 44 contestant Carolyn Wiger. Though Sia, 47, didn't share exactly when she was diagnosed, she did say, "For 45 years, I was like … ‘I’ve got to go put my human suit on.' And only in the last two years have I become fully, fully myself." Two years ago was also when her feature film directing debut 'Music' received much backlash as she cast neurotypical actress Maddie Ziegler as a nonverbal autistic girl and had some scenes that involved questionable handling of the character. Sia subsequently apologized to the autism community and added a “warning” to the beginning of the 2021 musical drama that clarified that the film "in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people." In the podcast, Sia mentioned that she's sober, after relapsing amid the 'Music' backlash, and that she has learned to accept herself unapologetically. “Nobody can ever know and love you when you’re filled with secrets and … living in shame,” she said, “and when we finally sit in a room full of strangers and tell them our deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets, and everybody laughs along with us, and we don’t feel like pieces of trash for the first time in our lives, and we feel seen for the first time in our lives for who we actually are, and then we can start going out into the world and just operating as humans and human beings with hearts and not pretending to be anything.” People on the autism spectrum face stigma and negative stereotypes everywhere they go. Common misconceptions of the condition facilitate the discrimination that goes with it. This gallery aims to challenge the public's preconceived notions of people on the autism spectrum by showing that they're more familiar than we thought. Click on to meet more celebrities with autism who are changing our perceptions.
2023-02-10T13:34:58Z
